There is a quote that "bad design never killed anyone," but I know that what we do is less trivial than that.

What designs have you seen cause real change or have a real influence?

Specific context behind the question:

Lord willing, I'll be giving a presentation to my wife's school for Career Day this week. I want to talk about what design is (which could be another question here, I might post later), but since I learn by example, I want to give some examples about how design makes a difference.

I love propaganda design and respect its unique place in history, but kids might not connect with that.

I could talk about the iPod and iPhone, but some of that drifts into industrial design and I think that's a bit tired of an example anyways.

I'm thinking about comparing two pieces of paper, one that has a bad font, tight leading and kerning, and is right-aligned, and one that is set a little more properly, and asking them to compare. But that's just a boring sheet of paper.

@mrdwab I did think about John Snow's map, but decided against it reasoning it was an analysis tool for his use that led him to a conclusion: then, testing and proving that conclusion (taking the handle of the well) made the historical impact. The map itself is awesome, but you could argue it could have been a scribble on an envelope or printed in Ye Comeec Sanns and still had the same impact. It's a good one though, the fact it's so clear probably helped change minds within the medical profession.
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user568458Oct 21 '12 at 14:01

3 Answers
3

You may want to focus your topic into the concept of information design, which is where graphic deign splits off from just being about making something look pretty to highlighting the information that is important to people.

One starting point might be to look at the Nudge blog where occasionally they highlight how design can "nudge" people into making different (better) decisions.

Also look for things like nutrition information on menu cards or receipts, revised stickers for showing fuel efficiency of vehicles, re-designed legislation....

And, if the kids are old enough and can appreciate some humor, painting gods and goddesses on walls in India to prevent public urination, or placing a small image of a fly or some other object in the "sweet spot" for urinals (where the amount of urine that splashes out is minimized). It turns out that men don't pee on their deities, and they love to aim their urine stream at targets!

Update

You may also want to mention something about graphic designers as preservers of culture. I do remember having read some papers a long time ago about studies that show how the role of graphic design is important because of what the graphics themselves might say about a society at a given point in time. The justification is along the lines that graphic designers need to know what people respond to on an emotional level if they expect people to respond positively to their designs.

Before design was unified each state, county, and city was free to have their own form of stop sign. Colors could range from yellow, to orange, to red, even green in a few cases. And shapes, while mostly circular, varied as well - some rectangles, triangles, and circles.

The (federally mandated) unification of design has saved countless lives since it was instituted.